Massachusetts 01/07/13 telegram.com: by Thomas Caywood – Brookfield – The last thing he heard before the bobcat‘s fangs and claws sank into his flesh was hissing. Roger D. Mundell Jr. had just stepped into his garage at 9 a.m. Sunday to retrieve some tie-down ratchet straps for a friend waiting in a car outside. At the time, he didn’t realize that the other door to the garage had been left open. He heard the hiss and barely had time to register what it meant. “In an instant it was on me. It jumped up and bit me above the eye, on my forehead. I have claw marks on the back of my shoulders, like it had me in bear hug,” Mr. Mundell recalled Sunday night. He was wearing a military winter field jacket, which he was able to shrug off over his head, dislodging the bobcat. Mr. Mundell said he dashed out of the garage and slammed the door behind him just in time to see the leaping feline hit the window in the door at full speed. But the bobcat got out through the other door. Mr. Mundell’s wife came out of the house to see what the commotion was about. They went to warn his 15-year-old nephew, who was outside helping prepare a trailer to be towed away, but the bobcat beat him there, Mr. Mundell said. “My forehead and face were bleeding like crazy already. I’m just in a T-shirt now, so my arms are exposed, and I have to go after this thing on my nephew. It scratched up my arms pretty good,” Mr. Mundell said.

Photo by Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management

Mr. Mundell said his wife got some metal crutches out of a car, which they used to try to pin the wild animal down. He shouted for his wife to go get a semi-automatic pistol from inside the house as the hissing bobcat struggled to free itself, he said. Mr. Mundell said he shot and killed the bobcat in his driveway. He estimated the animal weighed about 40 pounds, slightly smaller than the family dog, but strong and lightning fast in its attack. His nephew was bitten a couple of times on the forearm and back and had several scratches. Mr. Mundell had several deep puncture wounds from the bobcat’s fangs on his face and more than two dozen scratches all over him, he said. State Environmental Police took the bobcat’s body away to have it tested for rabies, but, given its behavior, Mr. Mundell and his nephew, as well as his wife, got the first of several rounds of rabies shots yesterday as a precaution. His wife has to be treated for rabies exposure, Mr. Mundell said, because he handed the blood-spattered gun to her to engage the safety latch. – See video, bobcat info and data, and complete article at http://www.telegram.com/article/20130107/NEWS/101079900/0/businessChronic Wasting Disease:

Wisconsin 01/02/13 cwd-info.org: Two deer have tested positive for chronic wastingdisease, one each in Portage and Juneau counties, reports the state Department of Natural Resources. These are the first positives in wild deer populations for both counties. “Any CWD positive in a new county is noteworthy, but neither of these positives was completely unexpected,” said Kris Belling, DNR regional wildlife program manager. “We’ve been performing surveillance in Juneau County due to the proximity of the CWD management zone boundary and we’ve been sampling in Portage County for 10 years after positives were discovered on a former game farm.” The two CWD-positive deer were harvested by gun hunters on Nov. 18 and sampled by DNR staff. The Portage County positive was a 1.5-year-old doe, harvested in deer management unit (DMU) 57A, close to the Mead Wildlife Area. The central Juneau County deer was a 4-to 5-year-old buck, harvested in deer management unit DMU 54B, less than two miles from the CWD management zone boundary. – For complete article see http://www.cwd-info.org/index.php/fuseaction/news.detail/ID/4ca2ee18fac6f21a75566238f3070048

Rabies:

HAWAII 01/04/13 sfgate.com: A raccoon that stowed away aboard a cargo ship from California has tested negative for rabies. The Hawaii Department of Agriculture announced the results Friday. Personnel from the shipping company Matson called the department earlier this week after seeing the animal scampering on the ship’s deck in Honolulu. Hawaii is the only rabies-free state, and raccoons are seen as a threat because they could introduce rabies here.

NewJersey 01/04/13 Camden County: A young stray cat that was apparently ill and was found by a Gloucester Township family on their property has tested positive for rabies. The family rescued the kitten and attempted to nurse it back to health but it died the next night. The entire family was exposed to the kitten and is receiving preventive medical care. – See http://www.nj.com/south/index.ssf/2013/01/cat_tests_positive_for_rabies.html

Texas 01/07/13 Department of State Health Services: The Texas Department of State Health Services this week begins its annual airdrop of rabies vaccine baits over portions of southern and westernTexas in the continuing effort to protect people and animals from rabies. Planes will take off from an airport in Del Rio around dawn Wednesday, Jan. 9 and from Alpine and Zapata Monday, Jan. 14. They will drop about 1 million doses of rabies vaccine over wild areas of Texas as part of the DSHS Oral Rabies Vaccination Program. – For complete News Release see https://mail.google.com/mail/?shva=1#inbox/13c16dd1ee11ba2f

Jerry Genesio

Author of "UNSEEN HAZARDS That Threaten Hunters, Campers, and Hikers: What you should know about pathogens commonly found in wildlife."

This is where wildlife and healthcare professionals, hunters, campers, hikers, anglers, and other outdoor enthusiasts will find interesting information about natural unseen hazards that place them at risk. As my book focused exclusively on Rabies, Tetanus (Lockjaw), Tularemia (Rabbit Fever), Brucellosis (Undulant Fever), Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, and Borrelia (Lyme Disease), posts regarding these six diseases will be limited to more recent developments and items of interest that were not included or were not available when the book was published in June of 2009. Topics will also include Chronic Wasting Disease, West Nile Virus, Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome, and other diseases of particular interest to those who work and play in the great American outdoors.

Don’t Be Afraid – Be Aware!

The Natural Unseen Hazards blog is available to all free of charge and is maintained as a public service.

If you have questions related to pathogens commonly found in wildlife, e.g. the disease caused by a specific pathogen, hosts, vectors, symptoms, treatment, territorial range, etc., please comment here or e-mail to jerrygenesio@gmail.com and I will attempt to provide answers.

"Chance favors the prepared mind."
Louis Pasteur

Unless otherwise noted, images have been provided by the CDC Public Health Image Library, Wikimedia Commons, the National Park Service or other government agencies, Bing.com, and/or Google.com.

"Nothing in life is to be feared, it is only to be understood. Now is the time to understand more, so that we may fear less."
Marie Curie

"It's better to look ahead and prepare, than to look back and regret."
Jackie Joyner Kersee